Love Among Thieves
by Namek Kaia
Summary: The gang is back in Spain again, to make an impossible heist, but Jigen is feeling the sting from his last Spanish encounter. With the help of someone from Jigen's past, they might be able to steal the unstealable. Jigen might finally find love... or not.
1. Chapter 1

**Love Among Thieves**

By Namek Kaia

Disclaimer: I in no way, shape, or form own any part of Lupin the III. I merely use its characters for my shameless fangirl entertainment.

* * *

"Why did it have to be Spain?" Jigen grumbled to Goemon, both of them in clever disguises as they left the Museo del Prado. The grand statue of Diego Velázquez cast a stark shadow over his phony face, but Jigen paid the large sculpture no mind since he didn't recognize the Spanish man off-hand. He should have though… because Lupin planned to steal one of Velázquez's most famous paintings. The thought of it was much easier than the actual act. No one counted on it being so heavily guarded… not even Lupin.

"What's wrong with you?" Goemon inquired as he watched Jigen stuff his hands back into his khaki slacks. His companion looked ridiculous in the off-white three-piece suit. It wasn't the clothes as much as it was the wig and the faux face, making it appear as if Jigen had an afro of black curls and a face of a magazine model, full of defined angles and a cleft chin. He guessed he looked just as absurd in his disguise, but he thanked several deities that he hadn't had to go anywhere near a mirror. Given Jigen's distraught aura, Goemon managed to suppress the smile that tugged at the corners of his mouth. With as many times that they had had to be in disguise to pull off Lupin's schemes, Goemon supposed that they should have been used to this by now. As it was, he and Jigen still hated the disguises.

"Nothing," Jigen replied, "I just don't like Spain."

He didn't want to say more than that. The memories of what happened the last time they were in Spain resurfaced, and he tried hard to distract his mind.

"That was Barcelona. This is Madrid. Not all of Spain is the same," Goemon offered.

"Spain is Spain," Jigen shot back, turning left onto a sidewalk that would eventually lead to their hotel, albeit after lots and lots of walking, which gave him lots and lots of time to think. Obviously Jigen needed to think, or sulk, or whatever else he did when he was alone.

But just in case, Goemon felt he should ask anyway. "Share a taxi?"

"You go ahead," Jigen replied without facing his counterpart and kept walking. "You can tell Lupin how pissed I am about this without me being there." He didn't hear Goemon hail a taxi, or get in, or leave or anything of the sort, but he wasn't surprised to look back and find no one he recognized. It wasn't as if he had been paying attention. Ever since he had arrived in Spain, he hadn't paid much attention to anything at all.

Jigen walked slowly down the sidewalk, head down and hands still stuffed in his pockets, his mind on nothing around him. As he walked, he contemplated why he felt _this_ bad just from being in the Spanish country again. Sure, the beautiful Spanish dancer – if she was really Spanish at all – had come on to him, raised his hopes, and then chewed up his fragile ego before spitting it back out, but he had known her for less than 48 hours. That couldn't be why he felt like nothing in the world was worth stealing anymore.

Maybe that was what plagued him. Perhaps the thrill of thievery no longer appealed to him. Had he become so immune to the adrenaline rushes? Was that it? No… that didn't explain why this… feeling – it could only be called a feeling – had overcome him all at once. Thieving was all he'd ever known. He'd been doing it for the better part of his life. Nothing would make him turn a new leaf on his way of life… not even a woman.

What was this feeling? Jigen couldn't quite put his finger on it. Perhaps this whole thing was about women after all. Doesn't every man need a woman every once in a while? Wasn't it abnormal that in face of a harem of women, all he felt was suspicious? Because he knew women would never cling to _him_ like _that_? Lupin, maybe. Him, never. Something had to have been wrong if a woman wanted him, right? He had every right to be wary… right? After all, he had been right in the end, and that should count for something. Right?

Well he was _not_ a homosexual. That was one thing he was sure of. He liked women, but none of them ever seemed worth his effort. He had to high of a standard set by someone that had left a burning brand on his heart. She always smelled like…

As if on cue, the smell of gourmet coffee drifted to him from a nearby café and he had to pause as a wave of nostalgia possessed him. His mask stretched along with the face beneath until he was almost smiling. For years, every time he smelled gourmet coffee, he thought of – He paused. All of that was in the past; a past he could never go back to, a past he should never have to think about ever again. There was no use thinking those thoughts anymore.

Jigen visibly shook out of his head all thoughts of things that had been and forced his feet into motion. Once again, his mind surrendered to contemplation, and he barely noticed when a young woman left the café and bumped directly into him. Somehow however, he heard a whisper a few moments later that stopped him in mid-step.

"Jigen?"

For a moment, he let that one word linger in his head. He would know that soft, angelic voice even if her were blind, deaf, and dumb. But no… it wasn't her, couldn't possibly be her. There was no way. People did not just materialize from nostalgic thoughts. What he had heard was just his mind messing with his senses. Almost instantly, he set himself up for the disappointment of a lifetime.

But as he turned in the direction of a voice he was sure that had been purely imagined, Jigen was faced with the most drop-dead gorgeous redhead he had ever laid his eyes on. The blue sundress she wore hugged her every curve and matched her eyes so perfectly that it made them shine even brighter than he remembered. The over-sized blue hat also matched the dress and created a large shadow over her face. But when her eyes had locked onto his, he had only noticed the hat in afterthought. Finally, Jigen realized that she was holding something, and he found himself unsurprised to see his wallet open in her hands, which she had lifted when they bumped into each other.

Old habits really did die hard.

The fact that he didn't notice until that moment that his wallet had been missing should have confirmed that it was really her. Still, he couldn't make himself believe it.

"Karina?"

At the sound of his voice, her expression changed from one of shock to one of relief, and tears swam in her bright, beautiful, ice blue eyes. "Daisuke Jigen?"

She didn't wait for his reply, and before he could so much as open his mouth, she launched herself at him and hugged him like he just told her he had six months to live. And his pride be damned, he forced his hands from his pockets and returned the firm hug. For a moment, he allowed himself to believe that all this was actually happening and something foreign lodged itself in his throat. She seemed to have the same reaction, because neither of them spoke as they embraced in the middle of the sidewalk outside the small café.

Finally, and with much hesitation, she pushed away from him and stared at his chest. "Is it really you? Tell me that I'm not making all this up."

This time, he really did allow himself a smirk. "It's me… in the flesh," he said. At her confused look, he remembered his ridiculous face. "Well, in disguise anyway."

At that, she smiled a smile that he had come to miss in all the years she had been gone from his life and then wrapped her arms around him again. "Oh, Jigen," she murmured into his shirt. "I've missed you so much. I didn't think that I'd ever find you." Again, she looked up into his face and smiled.

"So you could sock me in the jaw, beat me to a pulp, and make me die a slow death, just like you promised?" he shot back, all his memories about that day so many years ago coming back to him at last. Not that he had ever forgotten the words of venom she had spat at him the last time he had seen her, but time had a way of making you forget things that you didn't want to remember anymore.

Karina flinched as if he'd actually hit her in the face. Her smile faded and her eyes avoided his. "I'm… I'm sorry about that. I guess I've got a lot to tell you," she replied and took his hand in hers. "Come back to my room with me."

He hesitated at her request and rolled his choices over in his head. One the one hand, the same fate as his last encounter in Spain could lie in his wake and this woman could merely be trying to set him up by using his past as an obvious weakness. He could say no, forget about his past altogether, and yell at Lupin until he turned blue in the face.

On the other hand, he could catch up with the most wonderful woman he had ever known and find out why she had finally come to change her mind about him… not to mention the reason why she was here and not in an American correctional facility. If he gave her up now, he would probably have to swear off women for good. No one could compare to Hinote Karina. No one.

"Sure," he finally said and followed her back the way he had come. "Why the hell not?"

Jigen had decided that he could yell at Lupin later. This was one woman he dared not deny. One could only imagine what sort of hell _that_ would bring.

As she hailed a taxi, he asked, "Can I have my wallet back now?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Love Among Thieves**

By Namek Kaia

Disclaimer: Don't own it, just use it.

WARNING: It gets limey at the end. Don't say I didn't warn you.

* * *

"Mas despacio aquí, por favor," Karina instructed the driver when they neared the Plaza de Colón. Jigen had no earthly idea about what she was saying, but his guess was that she had told the driver to slow down, since that's exactly what the taxi was doing.

His whole body seemed to tighten when she leaned close to him and pointed out the window. "See that tall statue there?" she asked. It took him a moment to tear his gaze away from her gorgeous face, so close to his. When he turned his head to look out the window, she scooted even closer to him so that they were almost cheek-to-cheek.

Jigen found that he had to swallow to wet his dry throat before speaking. "Yeah, I see it."

"That's Christopher Columbus. You can't really see it from here, but at the base of the monument there's a huge fountain of cascading water. The area below is a walkway that has a sort of wall of water from the cascade. It has to be one of my absolute favorite places in Madrid. The roar of the water is loud, yet soothing in a way. Because of the acoustics, you can't really hear anything but the water itself. It's amazing."

As she paused, he didn't say a word – partly because he didn't know what to say and partly because the passionate tone of voice she used when she talked about something she truly enjoyed had been so lost on him over the years. Right now, he just didn't want her to stop talking.

"And that garden over there," she continued as she turned her head while keeping her body leaned into his, "is called the 'Garden of Discovery'. It's part of the plaza too."

Jigen only half heard her. As her head turned away, her neck became exposed and he could easily smell her sweet-scented, floral perfume. He was sure that nothing else in the world had ever smelled as good as she did right then. His mouth had come halfway to her neck when he remembered where he was.

Finally, Karina turned to him and smiled. He tried hard not to smile back. "It's beautiful, isn't it?" she asked. "We'll have to go for a walk in the gardens one day."

She talked like they lived here. Like the lived here together. He wanted to take her in his arms and… well, do all sorts of unspeakable things to her. Keeping his gaze locked with hers, he couldn't suppress the smirk that tugged at the corners of his mouth. "Yeah," he replied, "sure."

After a moment, Karina turned back to the driver. "Está bien, Señor Vivar. Gracias. Continue, por favor."

"Sí, señora. Vamos a llegar a su hotel en poco tiempo," the driver replied and sped up.

At his expression, she said, "He says that we should arrive at my hotel in a few minutes."

"Since when do you know how to speak Spanish?" Jigen finally asked.

When she turned to face him again, her eyes had an unknown sparkle in them. "Since I learned how," she quipped.

Ah, yes. _Now_ he remembered what that sparkle in her eye had been. It was a sure sign that she had set out to annoy him. How could he ever have forgotten?

"I mean…"

"I know what you mean," she interrupted with a smug grin on her face. "I travel a lot now, and Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world, so I thought I'd take it upon myself to learn it."

"I take it that English is the most spoken language?"

"Actually, no." At his confused expression, she continued. "It's Mandarin Chinese." A smug smile tugged at the corners of her mouth.

Jigen's expression changed, and he chuckled. "You always were full of useless information."

"And you were always full of yourself," she snapped back playfully. After a moment, she opened her mouth to say something, but closed it again and turned away. She had almost blurted out how much she had missed him over the eight years they had been apart. More than that, she wanted to _show_ him how much she had missed him, his body, all those nights together…

She snapped back to reality. In the back of a taxi ten minutes after they had been reunited was neither the time nor place.

A long, awkward silence stretched between them, and she tried to find some proper way to break it. But it was Jigen that spoke first when he saw a traffic sign about the Plaza Alfonso Martínez.

"There sure are a lot of plazas and museums in Madrid."

She smiled. "Yes. Madrid is full of Spanish culture. It's all so very fascinating. You'll have to come with me to see the palace. It used to be the home of all the Spanish kings and queens. They have original paintings by Caravaggio, Goya, and Velázquez, among others, and they have carpets like you wouldn't believe."

He visibly tensed at the mention of Velázquez, and he was mad at Lupin all over again for dragging him back to Spain, but she didn't seem to notice. "The throne room is absolutely exquisite! And the gardens are absolutely gorgeous."

There was no doubt in his mind that Karina could have gone on about the beautiful things concerning every place in Madrid, but the taxi driver saved him as he slowed in front of a small, but classy hotel. "Estamos aquí, señora," he said to Karina.

"Gracias otra vez," Karina replied kindly and paid the fare.

Jigen followed her out of the cab and saw a hotel that he and his traveling company could never afford to stay in. It wasn't the Ritz, but it held its own elegance if one liked smaller hotels with the same big-hotel luxuries. The French-style exterior only added to its essence. There was sure to be a garden in the courtyard. As a matter of fact, there was sure to be a courtyard.

"_This_ is where you're staying?" he asked in a masked tone of awe.

Karina positively beamed at his question. "Isn't it gorgeous? The Santo Mauro hotel used to be the home of a marquis. It's my…"

"…favorite place to stay in all of Madrid. Yeah, yeah… I got it," he interrupted and shoved his hands in his pockets again. "What I wanna know is if it has food. I'm starving."

Karina brushed off his comment and decided that arguing on the street in front of one's hotel was most likely not a good idea. Not that she wouldn't have liked to punch him in the arm for his mocking of her.

"The library has been turned into a restaurant and every room has 24-hour room service," she answered flatly and started toward the door, materializing a room key seemingly out of thin air.

Despite the fact that he was with Karina, Jigen could not suppress his hesitation to ever step foot in another Spanish restaurant ever again. "Room service," he replied and followed her inside.

* * *

Jigen, in his usual blue hat, pants, and jacket, waited until the room service waiter – with the tip that he had ever so patiently waited for – had left the room before he resumed his conversation with Karina.

"Good behavior? They let you out on good behavior? You? That's just pure bullshit, Karina."

She smacked his arm and knocked the roll he had right out of his hand.

Jigen took a long moment to look at the roll on the floor and then back at his assailant. She had that smug grin on her face and stood with a hand on her hip. When she felt she had made her point, she turned back to the table and buttered another roll… for herself.

"What the hell was that for?" he asked. His mouth was watering in anticipation of food and she had the nerve to knock it out of his hand.

"For one," she started, pointing her roll at him, "it's not all _that_ improbable that I was released after all the hard work I did to get it done." She stopped to let that sink in, but she was also hesitating. "Secondly, that roll has rye in it. And as much as I would enjoy seeing your face puff up, I'd rather you have my garlic bread so we can talk."

With that, she uncovered both their plates, removed the garlic bread from her plate, and set it beside his steak and potato.

Picking up both plates, she said, "I thought we'd eat out on the balcony. You can bring the wine."

When she looked up, plates in hand, she found him still staring at the roll on the floor. "Jigen, are you okay?"

He straightened himself and grabbed the chilled wine from the ice. "You were saying?"

Karina still eyed him warily. Something had shaken him, but she couldn't imagine what. "I was going to ask you to get the door. I do have my hands full after all."

Jigen only half heard her, but managed to open the French doors to the balcony anyway.

_She remembered_. She hasn't seen him for eight years and it's like she was never gone in the first place. He had almost eaten that roll, and she almost let him. The whole thing made him suspicious about her intentions. Did she really still hate him? Or did she still hold feelings for him somewhere in that curvaceous body.

Well… the only way he was going to find that out was to explore every inch of that body himself. That didn't seem too bad at all.

"Are you sure there's nothing wrong? I thought you said you were starving. You've barely even looked at your food," she said as she uncorked the wine.

He was starving… but food was no longer what he was hungry for.

"Fine," he replied and grabbed the bottle and the two glass goblets from her. Despite the ache that pooled somewhere lower than his stomach, he still wondered about Karina and her motives.

Perhaps she was just using their past relationship to seduce information out of him. That proved easy enough for her. She touched him the right way in the right places. If she weren't still biting his head off with that snapping wit of hers, he would really be suspicious.

"So… after you somehow escaped, what happened? What are you doing in Madrid?"

"I did not escape!" she snapped indignantly and shoved a forkful of paella into her mouth before she said something she'd regret later.

She swallowed, took a sip of the rich red wine, and said, "They made me a deal."

"Karina… you didn't."

"Not to our own, no. Just the McGrady boys and some guy from Tony's group. I wouldn't rat out our own team. And I didn't show them all the tricks; just the basics. Somehow I made them believe that I was just a rookie and didn't know how the big jobs worked."

He wiped potato from the corners of his mouth and nearly threw down the napkin. "Damnit, Karina! Do you know how much shit you're going to be in if they ever find out who screwed them over? It'll be freshmen year all over again."

"I didn't have a choice. They were going to add years to my sentence if I didn't give them _someone_. What would you have had me do?"

Jigen thought for a moment. "You could have given them me." Not that they would have ever caught him, but it might have helped her somehow. Now he expected her to say that they were partners, and no matter how much she had hated him, she couldn't turn him in.

Instead, he heard her snort. "I did give them you! Over and over I said you were my accomplice, and they would either say that you had left the country or that your record was too clean for you to have even robbed to corner mini mart."

At that, he didn't know what to say, so they ate in silence for a while.

Jigen had hardly finished his steak when she pushed her plate away and cradled her wine glass in her hand.

"Something wrong? You've never been one to leave food on your plate," he said.

"Before I couldn't afford to waste it. Now I can."

Which brought him back to the question that had been playing a loop in his mind all evening. "What are you doing in Madrid?"

Slowly, she pushed her chair back and moved to stand against the balcony railing, a smooth stone structure wide enough for her to actually sit on. But instead she leaned her forearms on it and twirled the stem of the glass in her hand. She acted like she was actually considering how to answer him.

Fed up with waiting, he wiped his mouth and moved to stand behind her, trapping her between him and the hard stone of the railing. "Don't you dare lie to me," he said low into her ear.

She didn't jump. She didn't shiver with discomfort. She wasn't even threatened.

She stared out at the beautiful courtyard. It was a large garden surrounded by the walls of the hotel. Pathways curved this way and that way through, all leading to the large fountain at the center. The fountain was lighted by one color one moment and another the next. The busy streets of Madrid could barely be heard from here. All she heard was the trickling of the water and the breath against her ear.

Why couldn't she just tell him the truth?

Because he had hurt her too much. Because she could never trust him again. Still…

"Karina…"

"Jigen." She hesitated. "You're a thief. I'm a thief. Do you really feel it necessary to ask me that?"

"You're here on a job?"

"Of course I am. Aren't you?"

He took a half-step back. "How do you…"

She swiftly turned to face him. A moment ago she was calm, almost sad in her contemplations. Now her face held nothing but anger. "Do you think I'm stupid? Do you think I'm still a naïve little sixteen-year-old?"

She didn't wait for him to answer. "Career thieves always thieve, for one. And do you really expect me to believe that you've retired and you just happen to enjoy wearing disguises around foreign cities for fun? Really, Jigen!" she huffed. She was so frustrated she wanted to hit him.

He had forgotten about the disguise. Deceptive Karina he could deal with. Her sadness he wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. But her anger he was used to. "I didn't mean…"

"Shut up! I'm tired of your disbelief or your suspicious questions. If I was going to hurt you, you'd be dead by now and you know that. So get over yourself. You always were the most conceited man I'd ever met."

"Now wait just a damn minute!" he shouted at her.

"I certainly will not. I realize now why I swore revenge against you in the first place. You're infuriating, pig-headed, and double-crossing."

Among the several retorts that were building in his mind, he realized how beautiful she was when she was this angry. He remembered why he always made her angry on purpose.

He placed his hands on the railing and leaned down to her eye level with a menacing scowl. "I never _ever_ double-crossed you."

"You liar."

"You traitor."

"Deserter."

"Stool pigeon."

"Bastard!"

"Bitch."

Tension like electricity crackled between them so hard that they both nearly shook with rage. She wanted to scream. He wanted to roar.

Then, as he pushed her to him by the back of her neck, his lips came crashing down onto hers.

She didn't – couldn't – resist him. Her mouth opened eagerly to his. Their tongues met.

Desire burned quick and fierce low in her stomach. No…. lower. Much lower. She couldn't breathe and too much or not enough blood rushed to her head.

Jigen's blood rushed to a different place entirely, and his whole body ached.

His arms snaked around her waist and pressed her up against him. Her arms swooped around his neck and her hands ran roughly through his hair. With an exasperated grunt, she reached up and tossed his hat to the floor.

Seeking revenge for his favorite hat, he lightly bit her full lower lip.

She didn't whimper. Instead, she made some sort of animalistic sound that could have been a growl and bit him right back.

The kiss deepened with full unabated passion. A passion that after eight years of simmering raged like wildfire between them. Each fought for dominance. Neither found it.

He still ached, and in one swift movement, he caught the back of her knee and wrapped her leg around his waist. Pressing her back into the stone of the balcony, he ground his hips into hers.

The edge of the stone bit into her lower back and, in reflex, she kicked the back of his knee with the leg he held.

His legs buckled beneath him and they both tumbled to floor of the balcony. Without missing a beat, she adjusted herself and kissed him again. Wasting no time, she began to pull at his jacket then his shirt with no intent on stopping until she could touch his bare skin.

He couldn't, didn't dare move. In her efforts, she was unknowingly grinding against him. Heat akin to fire spread all over his body and returned to pool at his groin. Didn't she know what she was doing to him?

He couldn't help but suck in a breath of the cool evening air as her hand ran under his shirt and touched his bare chest. His muscles clenched and unclenched underneath her steady palm. It was almost more than he could take.

As he gasped, her lips moved lower to his neck, nipping and biting hard and unforgiving, yet playful and enticing. She didn't think twice about what she did. She wanted him. Needed him. Only him. She'd die from neglect if they stopped now.

Then, as if he read her mind, he sat up so fast that she nearly toppled backward. Catching her, he brought her back upright and gave her a hard buss on the lips. "Inside… now," he said, his voice low and filled with need.

"Here… now," she demanded and tried to push him back down.

He didn't budge. "Someone could see."

She kissed him. "I don't care. Let them watch." She kissed him again.

He actually considered it. He was half-lying on the cool, stone floor of the balcony and she oh-so-sweetly straddled his hips. She was so hot that she could feel the heat radiating from her even through his clothes. As much as he hated too…

"Damnit! Get inside now!" he ground out.

She smirked. "You took the words right out of my mouth," she said but conceded and stood.

He stood, imagining that he would take her by the hand and lead her through the doors and to the bed.

Instead, she beat him inside.

* * *

Alright… that's it for all the lime goodness. :-) Did you like? Well, you had better, because that's all you're getting for now. :P If I get a few emails about a lemon chapter, I might do one, but I'm not too optimistic about getting responses about this fic. So it's up to you! Tell me if you want more. The next chapter will be up as soon as I can get it typed up. :-D Ja, minna-san! 


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